Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I am sure the Taoiseach is aware, there is great concern and anger about how leaving certificate grade inflation, which we witnessed on Monday, will impact more than 20,000 Central Applications Office, CAO, applicants who are using the previous leaving certificate results. I had assumed that the calculated teachers' estimated marks combined with the standardisation process, overseen by the Department of Education and Skills, to bring these grades more in line with previous years would have resulted in more consistent results when comparison was made with previous years. The breakdown of results shows clearly that teachers overestimated the marks of their students. One in six, or 17%, of teachers' estimated grades ended up being reduced downwards to limit the scale of grade inflation. Despite this, we still see an overall grade increase of almost 5%. Looking at individual subjects, we see big jumps in H1 grades, ranging from 79% in applied mathematics to 54% in geography, 43% in English, 32% in biology and 31% in mathematics.

Overall, the proportion of students achieving top grades in higher level papers has jumped significantly since last year. As a result, we can expect the CAO points requirement to increase across the board. Putting this in context, if an average student received a higher grade in four of seven subjects, this would result in him or her achieving an increase of 45 CAO points. The net effect of this is that the points required for CAO courses will rise significantly. This is completely unfair to students seeking to apply through the CAO system this year who completed the leaving certificate in 2019 or earlier. I have spoken to a number of students from County Louth who completed the leaving certificate in 2019 and are applying to the CAO in 2020. They are at a complete disadvantage.

Many students who sat the leaving certificate examinations in 2019 and earlier have since been working to save money to be able to afford to go to college this year. They must be protected and given a fair chance. With no system in place to ensure the fair treatment of this group of students when the CAO offers are released on Friday, it is now clear that the 20,000 students affected will be at a severe disadvantage when competing for a course place against those who received their results through the predicted grading system. These applicants do not have the same representation as those who were due to sit the leaving certificate this year and must not be ignored by the Government. Is the Government willing to do the right thing by these 20,000 applicants to ensure they are not severely disadvantage by this process? If the Government is not willing to take decisive action to rectify this impending problem, the subsequent unfairness will be abhorrent.

The Government has referred to the fact that additional college places are being made available this year. These extra places will not be nearly enough to fully offset this predictable injustice. We must support and encourage this group of students. Education is the key to a successful career and we must afford every opportunity to students to allow them reach their full potential. We cannot have a situation where a certain group of students is totally disadvantaged as a result of a situation over which it had no control. I appeal to the Government to do the right thing by this group by taking whatever measures or actions are necessary to ensure the CAO offers are fair to all students and not solely to the class of 2020.

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